The status of metalinguistic knowledge in instructed adult L2 learning

Linguistic and metalinguistic categories in second language learning

“…First, learners' metalinguistic knowledge and their L2 linguistic proficiency have been found to correlate positively and significantly, even though the strength of the relationship varies between studies, ranging from a moderate 0.3 to 0.5 (e.g., Alderson et al 1997;Elder et al 1999) to between 0.6 and 0.7 (Elder and Manwaring 2004), and, reported most recently, up to 0.8 (Roehr 2007). Thus, there is evidence for an overall association between higher levels of learner awareness, use of metalinguistic knowledge, and successful L2 performance (Leow 1997;Nagata and Swisher 1995;Rosa and O'Neill 1999).…”

“…Fourth, length of prior exposure to L2 instruction and the type of instruction experienced have been shown to impact on a learner's level and use of metalinguistic knowledge (Elder et al 1999;Roehr 2007). Finally, individual di¤erences in cognitive and learning style, strategic preferences, and aptitude may influence a learner's use of metalinguistic knowledge (Collentine 2000;DeKeyser 2003;Roehr 2005).…”

“…Recent empirical findings suggest that L2 form-function mappings which can be described metalinguistically in conceptually simple terms and which refer to systematic usage patterns appear to pose the least explicit learning di‰culty (R. Ellis 2006;Roehr and Gánem 2007) and may therefore be particularly suitable for explicit teaching and learning. By contrast, L2 form-function mappings with less systematic usage patterns which require conceptually complex metalinguistic descriptions should pose greater explicit learning di‰culty.…”

“…As far as I am aware, only one study to date has directly investigated the interplay of L2 learners' metalinguistic knowledge, their language learning aptitude, and their working memory capacity (Roehr and Gánem 2007). Results indicate that learners' level of metalinguistic knowledge and their working memory capacity are unrelated, but that analytic components of language learning aptitude, i.e., components whose operationalization incorporates no purely memory-based or purely auditory elements, were positively correlated with learners' level of metalinguistic knowledge (r ¼ 0:42).…”

“…Metalinguistic knowledge includes explicit knowledge about categories as well as explicit knowledge about relations between categories (R. Ellis 2004;Hu 2002;Roehr 2007). Metalinguistic knowledge can vary in terms of specificity and complexity, but it minimally involves either a schematic category or a relation between two categories, specific or schematic.…”